By Lawrence Delevingne
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steven A. Cohen is one step closer to managing other people's money again.
The billionaire investor, barred by federal regulators from accepting external capital until January 2018, recently set up an investing firm, Stamford Harbor Capital, L.P.
The funds controlled by the new entity currently run no money, but they have the potential to - keeping as much as 50 percent of client profits, according to an April filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Cohen will not have any supervisory role.
“The SEC granted registration to Stamford Harbor Capital, L.P. Steve Cohen owns the entity, but consistent with his January agreement with the SEC, he will not supervise the activities of anyone acting on its behalf,” Jonathan Gasthalter, a Stamford Harbor spokesman, said in a statement. “No decision has been made on whether Stamford Harbor will seek or accept outside capital.”
The new entity will initially focus on investments in private companies that are illiquid, or can be difficult to sell quickly, according to filings.
Stamford Harbor is housed across the street from the Stamford, Connecticut offices of Cohen’s $11 billion personal investment firm, Point72 Asset Management.
Cohen and Point72 are best known for investing in the stocks of public companies, which are liquid, or easy to trade.
Point72 is the so-called family office that succeeded SAC Capital Advisors, Cohen's former hedge fund firm. SAC, which once invested more than $14 billion, pleaded guilty to fraud in 2013 and paid $1.8 billion in criminal and civil settlements with U.S. authorities. It was also forced to return outside capital.
Stamford Harbor is run by the same executives as Point72, including president Douglas Haynes, chief operating officer Tim Shaughnessy and chief compliance officer Vincent Tortorella, according to filings.
Bloomberg News was first to report the formation of Stamford Harbor.